Human Mobility Patterns

Abstract

It is well accepted that the physical world itself, including communication networks, humans, and objects, is becoming a type of information system. Thus, to improve the experience of individuals, communities, organizations, and societies within such systems, a thorough comprehension of collective intelligence processes responsible for generating, handling, and controlling data is fundamental. One of the major aspects in this context and also the focus of this chapter is the development of novel methods to model human mobility patterns, which have myriad uses in crucial fields (e.g. mobile communication, urban planning, etc.). The chapter highlights the state of the art and provides a comprehensive investigation of current research efforts in this field. It classifies mobility models into synthetic, trace-based, and community-based models, and also provides insight into each category. That is, well-known approaches are presented, discussed, and qualitatively compared with each other.